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Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Solo, So Long, Salute

Former
Army officer Henry Worsley, 55, from Fulham, London, who was on the
brink of making Antarctic history with a solo, unsupported crossing died
on Sunday; Photograph by Henry WorsleyThe British ex-army officer was evacuated 30 miles short of his goal.

Henry Worsley, a 55-year-old British ex-army officer and veteran polar
explorer, has died in his attempt to become the first person in history
to cross the Antarctic continent solo, unsupported, and unaided. Worsley
was attempting to complete the route proposed by Ernest Shackleton
during the ill-fated Endurance expedition, which celebrates its
centennial this year. He had been on the ice alone for 71 days, covering
913 miles, and was suffering from exhaustion, dehydration, and severe
stomach pains when he called for a rescue only 30 miles from his
destination on the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf.
Just before departing on the journey in November, Worsley spoke to National Geographic
about the challenges he would face. “I know I’m going to suffer for the
first few weeks, and I know I’m going to have bad days,” he said. “But
I’m generally a cup-half-full man, so I’ll grit my teeth and get on with
it.”

Henry Worsley had embarked on several Antarctic expeditions; Photograph by Henry Worsley
On Friday, in his last dispatch
from Antarctica, Worsley declared: “…a gradual grinding down of my
physical endurance finally took its toll today, and it is with sadness
that I report it is journey’s end—so close to my goal.” Shortly after he
called to be evacuated, he was airlifted by staff at Antarctic
Logistics and Expeditions to their base on the Union Glacier and then on
to Clinica Magallanes in Punta Arenas, Chile, where he died from organ
failure on Sunday. It is reported that Worsley had been suffering from
peritonitis, an infection of the tissue lining the abdomen.
Worsley’s expedition had raised more than $142,000 for a charity
called the Endeavor Fund, which supports the recovery of wounded,
injured, and sick British servicemen and women. Prince William, a patron
of the Endeavor Fund, wrote in a recently released statement: “We have lost a friend, but he will remain a source of inspiration to us all.”Doug Stoup,
a prolific American polar explorer who has been on 38 expeditions to
Antarctica, including 15 trips to the South Pole, had been closely
following Worsley’s journey when he heard the tragic news. “He was one
of the last great explorers of our generation and a truly humble human
being,” Stoup said by telephone from Charlottesville, Virginia. “You
might think it’s more dangerous to undertake a journey like this alone,
but for a guy like Henry it’s actually safer to go solo. He was a
professional and was so experienced that he would have ended up guiding
anyone he would taken along. ”

“Rarely do we set the high bar one notch above what we think we can clear, and that’s what’s driving me on here.” —Henry Worsley

When asked why he wanted to undertake such a dangerous trip alone,
Worsley replied, “On my previous trips I was always part of a team, and
so this time I wanted to have the clarity of making all my own
decisions. I’ve always sort of lived by the phrase, “Try something you
could fail at. We all do things that we can comfortably achieve, but
rarely do we set the high bar one notch above what we think we can
clear, and that’s what’s driving me on here.”
PS:
This was crazy. It was totally insane. I would never have done this. I
can think of a lot of better ways to die. I would never do anything like
this in a million years, but "to each his own".

I spent two years at
Antarctica, and it is not a place I would want to die. I would prefer to
be at home in my own bed with my family in my sleep.

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